Ribbons!

This is just a great Pinterest idea that I did and had to share...with scrapbooking (which I haven't done in ages) and other crafty things, I had tons of ribbon bits that were all tangled up and annoying.  THEN I stumbled upon this fabulous idea...check it out!  (It works like a dream!  And looks pretty too!)

I have been working to organize my craft stuff in this weird room we have upstairs.  It used to be a (tiny) kitchen when previous owners had the back part of the house turned into an apartment.  We opened it up and use the whole house, but this room had a kitchen sink and a few cupboards in it.  DH uses it as his sink area to get ready in the morning.  Since he has recently started making his own beer and has to have a warm place for the beer to sit and turn into beer, this room is also the spot for that--mostly since it is warm and not a place where the kids go.  So his stuff only takes up a little tiny part of the room.  I have usurped the rest of the room as my craft space.  So far, I'm liking it a lot. :)  I've done a few projects that I'll try to take pictures of and post.  Mostly it's just nice to have a place to put all this stuff.  Apparently ribbon has been a thorn in my side for awhile, because I was also deliriously happy to work this out for the spools:

It's not a great picture, but you get the idea.  The bar and the hangy things are from Ikea (LOVE Ikea!) and they are SUPER cheap...I think the bar was $2.99 and each of the hangy things was $1.99. Not only are they organized, but now I can just neatly thread them down without even having to take them out!  

I love to organize things!

Boxes

One of my goals for 2012 is to stop just thinking of great activities to do with the kids, but actually do some. I love, love, love Pinterest and have found SO many wonderful things on there.  It's like reading all the great ideas people post on blogs all at once, and actually being able to remember where they are when you are ready to do them!  I've even started a "Done!" board so I can move over things that I have actually done!  (If you need an invite to get started on Pinterest, just send me a message!)

Anyway, today was one of the days I decided to DO something with the kiddos.  We had tons of boxes left over from Christmas, so I decided we would make box-houses!  Got the idea from here (through Pinterest, of course).

The kids had a great time with it.  It took some time on my part with a blade and some duct tape, but it was definitely worth it!  The kids really got creative with them and were well-occupied with a great activity!

"Mom, don't freak out"

Just what every parent wants to hear.

Side note... and this is to MY mother...Mom, don't freak out.

Naomi and Phoebe have started piano lessons with Jon.  The girls were practicing piano for a bit and suddenly Naomi came running in.  "Mom, don't freak out when you see this, but I thought of a GREAT way to teach Phoebe this song!" I went in to the piano.

What did I see?  Stickers color coding some of the keys.

What did I do?  I freaked out.

You have to understand the piano situation in my life.  My mother is a professional pianist.  The piano we currently have is an upright Steinway that my mom got from her aunt when she turned 16.  It has traveled with my parents back and forth across the country as they moved.  It has traveled with us (when we inherited it after my mom got her baby grand) back and forth across the country as we moved.  It has come close to demise in an apartment building stairwell more than once, but has survived.

And I know the rules well.

The piano has to be on an inside wall, but not by a heater.
No food or drink near the piano,  and definitely no food or drink ON the piano.
You wash your hands before you play the piano.
No decorative items or tchotchkes on the piano.
The piano is not a toy, it is an instrument.
You don't just bang on it, you play it.
You gently dust the keys- all use of cleaner of any type is prohibited.

And certainly, certainly... no stickers on the keys!  That one doesn't even make the official and oft-repeated list because it is SUCH an egregious and flagrant error that it is just known that no one, unless they were some type of insane instrument-torturer would even conceive of the idea of doing something so horrific.  But back to the story...

To my credit, I didn't TOTALLY freak out.  I said "OH honey!" in a horrified voice and put my hands to my face.  Just like my mom would have.  Immediately Naomi started crying, and I knew even that had been to harsh.  I took her in my arms and hugged her.  I told her that it was a wonderful, creative idea of a way to teach Phoebe a song, and I was so glad she'd thought of it, but no, we couldn't have stickers on the keys.  As a peace offering, I told her we would pull out the old keyboard ($4 at Goodwill) and she could put the stickers on there.  That seemed to satisfy her and as we both calmed down, I apologized for freaking out.

As much as we want to take good care of the things that we have, they are just things after all.  We can't take 'em with us.  Even a Steinway.  And it wasn't as if she was flagrantly treating the piano poorly.  In fact, she was thinking and acting kindly toward her sister, taking a gentle leadership role to teach her...pouring good things into their relationship...which is something worth far more than any instrument.  That instrument could be gone in the blink of an eye by theft or fire (well...not in the blink of an eye by theft I guess, it is HEAVY...so perhaps we could say "over the course of an afternoon when no one is home and the neighbors are completely unaware of what is going on"...but you get my drift), but the relationship between two sisters, as well as the one between a mother and her daughter have eternal value.

That is where I want my focus to be.  On the relationship.  Not the stuff.

So everyone (and by everyone, I mean my mom) can breathe easier, I will tell you that the stickers came off quickly and easily.

Crisis averted.

PS: Name this movie quote: "But that's a priceless Steinway!" "Not anymore."

Annual Interviews

Oh my gosh!  I just did our 1st Annual Interviews with the kids (actually--I think I did one a few years ago just with Naomi, but this year I did it with all six kiddos).  It was hilarious and SO CUTE.  I totally wish I had videotaped them too in addition to writing them down.  Next year I will.  I put pictures of them below.  The questions may be particularly hard to read, but here is the link to the website where I got them.  The kids also drew a self-portrait up in the corner.  These are just priceless!  I wish I had started years ago!

Quotes

Our Oldest Boy is quite a character.  He is the most inquisitive person I know...I'm glad he is curious, but I do think his unending questions are a defense mechanism to avoid talking about the more serious things that are going on in his life.  But that's not what this post is about...it is about the astonishing things that come out of his mouth.  Here is a brief smattering...

(at dinner) "How many people here wish dogs had hands?  Because I sure do!"
(at church, when the pastor asked everyone to consider what they might ask of God) "I would ask that my feet would be 3 sizes too big for these shoes!"
(in the car) "I wish I was made of P-URE crystal!"
(at dinner) "Raise your hand if you wish you were cold-blooded!"

Allowing gun play or not allowing gun play...that is the question

I keep coming back to this question lately in parenting.  It's all new to me with boys now, of course.  My girls never wanted to play with guns, or even really thought about them at all.  But now they are front and center...frequently.

I have nothing against guns per se, and had I the pleasure of raising these boys from birth, it might be a different story.  Unfortunately, the situation I find myself in is that their only real experience with guns is shooting things with a BB gun and playing "Call of Duty."  I know.  Rated M for Mature for a reason.  Trust me, that is not happening in our house.

I know that boys have the inborn desire to conquer and to compete, but I just want it to come about in the right attitude--that of heroism and rescue and protection...not aggression, violence and anger.  How do I make that happen?  I've wrestled with the idea of getting the boys little green army men to play with for Christmas...and decided against it.  I'm feeling more drawn to cowboy-themed play as well as knights...if there must be fighting and duels, at least those seem a little more civilized to me for some reason or another.  I don't want to girlify my boys, but I do want them to have an accurate understanding of guns and how/why they should be used.

My husband is not a hunter, and he was never in the military, and we do not own a gun.  Some good friends of mine have suggested getting someone who was (or is) in the military to talk with the boys about it (particularly Oldest Boy--who seems the most obsessed).  He seems convinced that it's all about blowing people up and stabbing them and if you go into the army you will definitely die.  I've tried to tell him that most people in the military do NOT die, and in fact, I know several personally who were or are in the military who are still very much alive, and also that the military's main goal is to protect people, and that they try to work things out with words first.  (I hope that last part is true.)  I don't think he believes me.  I also may have a hunter discuss guns and gun safety with him.  We'll see.

The boys have a hearing coming up, and things may be exactly the same, or they may change...I think I'll put off gun-training for awhile to see what happens at the hearing and then go from there.

I'd love any thoughts you might like to share on gun-play for young boys.

DIY Christmas

I am getting SO SO SO excited about a DIY Christmas!

Money is a little tight this Christmas...partly due to a few large car repair bills we've just had.  But also, as you know from my last post on gifts, that we are re-thinking gifts and gift-giving this year.  I do want my kids to give each other gifts, as well as the adults in our family, so where does that leave us?  With a DIY Christmas.  Thanks to my new best friend Pinterest and my long-standing good friend Google, I am finding all sorts of good ideas!  In fact, I'm having to reign in myself from going crazy with wanting to make gifts now for everyone!

This website I stumbled upon: http://blogs.babble.com/the-new-home-ec/2011/11/09/25-diy-gifts-for-little-dudes/ has some GREAT ideas for gifts for boys.  I'm trying to find things that the girls can help me make for the boys and vice versa.  I think it is SO much easier to come up with things for girls, don't you?  There are about a bajillion websites out there with how to make cute headbands, jewelry, princess skirts, felt food, and all sorts of things.  Boys are more difficult.  Men are the most difficult.  I did find this website as well as this one that had some pretty good ideas for men.

Anyway, it should be fun making the stuff...I'll have to post later (no promises) to show what we made. It will be nice time for me to spend with the kids making things for others, and it will be fun for them to give gifts that they actually made!